Instruments and other components, e.g., molding, are typically fastened to instrument panels of automobiles by means of screws and other like threaded fasteners. To fasten an instrument to a panel, a threaded male fastener typically is engaged with the instrument, and the male fastener is then threadably engaged with a complementarily-threaded female receiver, referred to as a "boss", that is associated with a receptacle on the instrument panel.
One way to configure the boss of an instrument panel is to integrally form the boss on the inside surface of the receptacle of the instrument panel. Unfortunately, it happens that such integrally-formed bosses cannot easily be made to meet engineering requirements, e.g., torque requirements. This is primarily because the relatively small bosses are formed during a process that is designed to produce a relatively large instrument panel. Indeed, it has been found that in such instrument panels, many of the threaded fasteners tend to be improperly seated in their associated bosses, or tend to become completely disengaged from their associated boss. The bosses themselves are subject to becoming easily stripped. This in turn results in improper engagement of instruments with the panel.
To overcome the drawbacks inherent in bosses that are formed integrally with an instrument panel, small, removable metal clips have been introduced which can be inserted into the receptacles of an instrument panel for engaging the threaded male fasteners associated with automobile instruments. Because they are manufactured-apart from the large instrument panel, using production processes specifically designed for making small fasteners, such metal clips are typically effective for their intended purpose.
While effective for their intended purpose, however, it will be readily appreciated that metal clips add weight to the automobile, and even the matter of a few additional ounces can have complicate the overall design of an automobile. Moreover, when it is desired to remove the instrument panel from the automobile for recycling the panel, the metal clips must be painstakingly removed from the instrument panel first. This is because instrument panels are ordinarily made of plastic, and in the case of recycling instrument panels, metal cannot be recycled with plastic. It will be appreciated that it is cumbersome to remove many small metal clips from each instrument panel to be recycled, and adds costs to recycling.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plastic boss for an automobile instrument panel that can be recycled along with the instrument panel itself. Another object of the present invention is to provide a removable plastic boss for an automobile instrument panel that is lightweight, easy to use, and cost-effective.